Dynamique des processus de développement de carrière en contexte contre-stéréotypique : modélisation de la réussite des femmes militaires aux formations professionnelles

Careers in the French Navy are determined by successive certifications allowed military to have more and more managerial responsibilities. Women are unequally represented in the hierarchy. Military identity is deeply associated with male characteristics (Sorin, 2003). Women encounter difficulties to be perceived as military in their own right (Héritier, 2011), but also to articulate their identity as women with their professional identity, de facto in opposition (Toulgoat, 2002). On the one hand women's family life is seen as incompatible with service life (Caraire & Léger, 2000), on the other hand, within the crews of warships, their skills are underestimated (Matthews, Ender, Laurence, & Rohall, 2009). The objective of this study is to model the effects of professional identifications and self-assessment of competences on the success of military women in professional certifications. We interviewed 154 students in training to become “experienced operators” (including 73 women) with an average of 3.32 years of duty (SD = 2.11) and 61 students in training to become “team leader” (including 20 women) with an average of 9.28 years of duty (SD = 3.30). The questionnaire measures self-efficacy (Bandura, 1977), performance expectations compared to their colleagues (Rosenthal, Crisp, & Suen, 2007), identification to the professional group (Laplante & Tougas, 2011) and identification to the organization (Tougas, Rinfret, Beaton, & de la Sablonniere, 2005). The final score at the end of the training is considered as an indicator of success. While women are as successful as men in the certification “operator”, they are less successful in the certification “team leader”. The structural equation model (path analysis) (χ²(15, n = 215) = 21.32, p = .13; CFI = .982, GFI = .976, RMSEA = .044) emphasizes the centrality of professional identifications to succeed in training. Women are less identified with sailor than men and feel less able to succeed, they develop lower performance expectations and they underestimate their performance compared to their colleagues, which has a negative effect on their success in training. In parallel, changes in family life are associated with reduced professional identifications, but this effect is independent of the sex of the individuals. Women are therefore exposed to two independent sources of influence limiting their career development: gender, which leads to less professional identifications and to compare unfavorably with their colleagues, and family status. These results highlight the importance of the dynamic of self-realization processes throughout the career.     

Féminisation des professions : effet de la représentativité des femmes sur la réussite aux évaluations professionnelles

This study, conducted with militaries, examines the effects of having a job in a counter-stereotypical environment on women's success in professional evaluations, depending on the feminization rate of their professions. The scores of 1050 women and 1011 men in an examination have been analyzed. Both intergroup variability, women have lower scores than men whatever the nature of the questions, and intragroup variability, women have different level of performance in technical knowledge depending on the feminization rate of their profession, have been noticed. This research questions the role of assessment measures in regards to professional inequalities and the way feminization must be considered in traditionally male organizations.     

Autonomie en transition de carrière. Développement d’un modèle et validation d’une échelle originale

IntroductionBased on the observation that autonomy is a fundamental concept in a world of work characterized by many transitions, this paper presents the construction and validation of a model and a scale of autonomy in career transitions.ObjectiveThe scale was developed to measure autonomy during adult career transitions.MethodA series of items was first produced following interviews with experts and employees. Three successive surveys involving 336, 314 and 450 participants made it possible, through item analysis and factor analysis, to reduce the number of items and to build a model composed of 14 items and 4 oblique factors.ResultsAfter confirmatory factor analysis, the data fit the model well and a study of external validity shows strong convergences with other measures of autonomy.ConclusionThe model and the measure of autonomy in career transition can be of great help in supporting employees. It makes it possible to identify the people who are most in difficulty and offers benchmarks to support and train organizations to modulate career paths and strengthen the acquisition of certain resources.     

Représentations professionnelles,satisfaction au travail et choix de carrière des personnels infirmiers : le rôle des valeurs d’autonomie

We are interested in factors which can incite nurses to abandon their profession. In this frame, job satisfaction appears as a major explanatory factor, depending on the status granted to nurses’ “own role”. Besides, several studies show the importance of values concerning job satisfaction. Then, and in reference to the concept of professional representations, we consider that nurses’ job satisfaction depends on the importance of the own role in the representation of their function, all the more that Autonomy values are essential for them. A study, realized with regis tered and student nurses, confirm this approach, so underlining the crucial role of these values for the job satisfaction of nurses.     

Isolement et solitude au travail : l’exemple des agents d’accueil de parcs urbains. Des effets pathogènes aux processus de régulation et de dégagement

Through action-research case study in the area of “Parks and Gardens”, this paper focused on the relations between “aloneness”, “loneliness” and “solitude” at work and their necessary distinctions. The Socio-Clinical work psychology approach used during the intervention helped to highlight some key elements. While aloneness characterizes a stretched between the subject and its external environment link, loneliness and solitude are defined as intra-subjective process mainly emotional psycho. These last notions remain in any case a test for physical and psychological occupational health. It seems that the outcomes depend largely on the ability of the subject to convert aloneness to solitude. In our case study three valences of aloneness with different level of risk for health, were underline: solitude, as creative aloneness; defensive aloneness; and loneliness. The advantages of this new approach for prevention are discussed in the positioning relative to other work on the subject.     

Faire face à des émotions négatives intenses en protection de l’enfance : un travail émotionnel qui mobilise des processus de régulation de l’anxiété et de la colère avec le soutien de l’équipe

This research aims at a better understanding of one aspect of emotional labor in child welfare: coping with intense negative emotions. It is based on 15 interviews conducted with social workers from Child Protective Services. Results indicate that the drivers of this aspect of emotional labor are characterized by unpredictability and interpersonal conflict. They give rise to surprise, anxiety and especially anger, particularly against institutions. Emotional regulation is carried out implicitly with a professional instrumental purpose. Different strategies are mobilized sequentially: social sharing of emotions and cognitive strategies allow recovery. The team social support during informal times appears central. These results underline the role of the team and plead for the recognition and professionalization of emotional work in this sector.     

Diversité du sens de l’orientation des collégien(ne)s orienté(e)s vers la 3e préparatoire aux formations professionnelles (3e PFP) : le rôle de l’expérience scolaire antérieure

Professional exploration modules are offered to the secondary school students attending a Preparatory to Vocational Training (3rd PVT). They are aimed at the academically weak pupils’ remobilization through the development of a training project in vocational education. Based on the model of plural and active socialization (Malrieu, 2003), this article aims to understand the processes of inter-significance between the meaning of school experience, the relation to learning and the relation to the future which underlines the building of the meaning of orientation of middle school students to the PVT program. One hundred and ninety-nine middle school students from 14 to 16 years old who attend the PVT in vocational schools underwent a computerized questionnaire including 96 items. A hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA) differentiates three typical profiles of college students. Though the orientation in the PVT program remains characterized by strong social determinisms (school history and social origin), it seems for a majority of students built on positive representations dependent on the meaning of the previous school experience more than on a projection to the future.